Happily Never After
by piicaros
Summary: What if Ariel didn't save Eric from marrying Ursula/Vanessa? AU.
1. Too Late

**A/N:** Uhm, I had this idea for a while now. It kinda hit. "Bam, like lightning." x'D Cookies to anyone who remembers that. Anyways, I would never change the Disney version of Little Mermaid, but I had to get this story out there. So, yes. You're allowed to hit me if you don't like it. -;

**Summery:** What if Ariel was too late to save Eric? Would she ever be able to save him, regain her voice, and win her happily ever after?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Little Mermaid. If I did, Eric would be mine. jus' sayin'.

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**I.  
Too Late.**

**Ariel's POV;**

Too late. I was too late.

I could feel it before I even hoisted myself onto the huge wedding ship that contained Eric and Ursula disguised as Vanessa. I could feel it before I heard her voice drift down and say 'I do.' But even if I could feel it, even if I knew I was too late, the shock of seeing the two of them kissing their first kiss as man and wife knocked the wind out of me.

They were married. Married.

I was expecting something. Something big. Something to let me know I had lost. Vanessa/Ursula cackling and revealing her true form. Maybe even I would shrivel up on the deck into one of those things she held captive in her cave. Or her eels reaching up to drag me back underwater.

None of that happened.

The only thing that happened was the people in the back turning slightly to look at the maiden dripping wet in a dress that wasn't formal for a wedding. Some of the guests looked at me like I was crazy. Others, they probably noticed the look on my face, looked at me pitifully. Like they knew I was heartbroken. But I didn't really see them. All I could see was Eric. My Eric. My Eric that wasn't mine anymore. He was hers. Legally. And apparently emotionally as well. Even if it was fake, he still belonged to her.

My bottom lip trembled and I felt like I was going to fall. Fall over the edge, fall onto the floor. One of those. But something kept me up. Grief? Remorse? I sniffled.

I don't know how long I stood there, but I stood there a while. Because it was nightfall already and because Ursula/Vanessa was right in front of me now. I let out a soft gasp and blinked, taking in the scene around me. Eric was standing on the other side of the boat still, people all around him. Congratulating him, perhaps. No one really noticed his bride, I had to blink back tears at the word, was away from the commotion. Stepping backward, I felt my back press up against the railing and snuck a quick glance back. It looked much gloomier and evil at night. The water looked like just a big, dark abyss; sucking you in if you fell.

"Poor little Princess," Ursula crooned, as if she really did feel sorry for me. I forced myself to look back at her. I wouldn't let her know how far she got to me. And that was far. "You've lost your prince. You've lost your voice and you've lost your poor little family." She gave me an evil smirk. But even such an evil look on the face she wore made it look good.

In fact, if I wanted to sound selfish, she looked somewhat like me. Her complexion was darker, her hair was brunette as were her eyes, but there were some resemblance between the two of use. I took a deep breath through my nose and stuck my chin up.

She chuckled and it sounded melodious. How could someone so evil sound so sweet? Oh yeah, that's right. It wasn't her voice.

"Don't worry, little Princess. I'll take very good care of your Prince." She winked and laughed once more. My fists clenched at my side, my eyes watered and I felt my heart contract at the thought of Eric being only with her. Forever.

"In the meantime," She went on as if she hadn't noticed the change in my posture. Her voice lowered. "You and I made a deal. You make the Prince fall in love and kiss you in three days or it was over. You, obviously, failed. You're mine now. Don't think you can get out of it. I would take you underwater right now and use you as a hostage for your dear old daddy. But, alas, I suppose these humans would very much notice if the bride wasn't around for her own reception." I could practically hear the smugness in her voice telling me she had won. But she had won. There was no denying it. "So here's the deal. I'll give you your fins back, Flotsam and Jetsam will take you down to my lair, and you can wait for me there. After that, we'll have so much fun taking the kindom away from Triton." She talked about it like she was talking about having a slumber party and I was her best friend.

I couldn't stand it. I raised my hand towards her. Now, a Princess would never raise her hand at anyone. But this Sea Witch was angering me so much. My hand came down.

Ursula caught it in her hand. "Tsk, tsk." She said calmly. "It is un-lady-like to hit."

Then her necklace started to glow.

In less than a second, I felt wet like I was under the sea again. Then I opened my eyes and realized I _was_ underwater. And not only that, but there was a change.

I had my fins back.

I had my fins back and had lost so much.

I was too late.

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**A/N:** Sooo...? -cricket; Uhm, review? Please don't kill me. :D


	2. It Gets Harder

**A/N:** AHMAIGOD. I DIDN'T KNOW PEOPLE WOULD ACTUALLY LIKE IT! You people are the best. Really, you are. Amazing people. Like, you probably made my month/day/year/everything just by reviewing that first chapter. :DD

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**II.  
It Gets Harder**

The moment Ariel noticed the fins where her legs used to be, she broke into sobs. Soundless sobs for her voice was gone, but the tears flowed out her eyes. Though, evidence of any crying wasn't there considering she was underwater and the tears blended in with the water, but that didn't matter to Ariel. They were there, they were flowing. The water around her felt different yet familiar at the same time. She hadn't set foot into the ocean since she gained legs and the only time she'd ever come close to water was when Carlotta had given her hot baths. But that was more of a distant memory now. Something far far away that seemed like it almost never happened.

It took Ariel a couple minutes to realize two things. One, she was uncontrollably shaking which could explain why the area around her felt like an earthquake. Secondly, she wasn't alone. As soon as she noticed she wasn't, her sobs subsided slowly and her beautiful features formed into a scowl. It was _them_. The ones who'd led her into this in the first place. Convinced her what a good idea it was to see the Sea Witch, led her there. Led her to a trap just waiting to be sprung. Her blue eyes flared - which seemed like an odd feature on the Princess who was usually laughing and cheery and childish. But these two - and Ursula - took it all away. Flotsam and Jetsam were before her.

Instinct led her to flinch away from them when they swam closer to her and kept swimming around her, enveloping her. Probably so she wouldn't escape.

_Get away from me,_ she wanted to say. But, of course, nothing - not even the littlest sound - escape her lips. Only bubbles from the attempt.

One of the eels chuckled - Ariel didn't know which one. They looked too much alike to tell the difference. "Looks like you're having a little trouble talking there, Princess." Flotsam, or Jetsam, spoke with that creepy, raspy, almost snake-like voice he had.

Ariel felt her mouth close with an audible noise heard when her teeth snapped together.

The two eels snickered. Ariel glared at them in disgust. How could they sit there - or rather _float_ there - and laugh at her. Had they no sense of guilt? No conscience, no morality to make them feel the least bit sorry for what they did? No, probably not. They worked for Ursula. That witch didn't know the meaning of any of it.

"As much as we'd love to stay here and watch you struggle," one of the spoke.

"We have to take you down to Ursula's lair." The second finished.

"Where she can find out what to do with you." They both spoke at the same time and Ariel found it even creepier with their one yellow eye each staring at her.

She found she had no choice but in that moment, she felt a sense of deja vu. Only a mere three days had passed when they led her the first time, but something was missing this time. And then it hit her. Flounder. Sebastian. They weren't with her. And as soon as the crab and fish entered her mind, Scuttle did as well. Wasn't Sebastian going to get her father? What about Flounder, what did he think happened? She had fallen off the other side she had come on through so Flounder hadn't seen anything happen. And Scuttle; wasn't he supposed to be a distraction for the wedding?

These thoughts hit the princess like a ton of bricks and she froze in her place. Her friends couldn't be hurt because of her. There had to be a way to stop them, to let Ariel take the blame herself and not let anyone else lose anything over her stupid mistake. Her eyes slowly took in the eels before her again. But how to get away?

There wasn't really a need to get away, for, as soon as she had thought it, there was a piercing scream coming from above. Ariel, Flotsam, and Jetsam all lifted their heads. The scream had come from a ship. The ship Eric was on.

**H.N.E.**

Ariel wasn't sure how long it had taken her to surface once more, but it wasn't long. The evil minion eels had followed closely.

Ariel was sure if she had her voice, a huge, audible gasp would've escaped her vocal cords right about now. The wedding ship she had just been thrown off - at least, she supposed she was - was being attacked by animals. There were birds flying everywhere, seals were flopping on deck and messing the whole decorations up, dolphins kept jumping up and throwing water onto the guests and Ursula/Vanessa. In fact, most of the animals were sea creatures and Ariel swore if she looked close enough, there were starfish trying to attach themselves to the sea witch.

Instead of a gasp, her jaw fell open and her eyes widened while the eels around her started swimming around nervously. Probably wondering if they should interfere and scare the guests more - who were already running around in such a panic that some were ready to jump off the ship. In the midst of it all, Ariel noticed a bird covered with white feathers and had a certain look about him that made him look awfully familiar.

_Scuttle!_ Her lips moved but, of course, no sound escaped them. She mentally cursed herself and immediately swam off in the direction of the seagull who had taught her so much about the human world. Even if most of it had been wrong. She didn't look back and see if Flotsam or Jetsam or both were following her. Nor did she care. She had to at least snatch her friends away before Ursula's wrath was unleashed on him as well.

There was many things that couldn't be done without a voice. Screaming for someone's attention was one of them. So Ariel was left to wave her hands and splash water in the air, hoping her intention was clear and Scuttle would see it. She wasn't sure how Scuttle had seen her tiny movements. Because, compared to the chaos going on the ship and having sea animals splashing and jumping in the water, it would have been almost impossible. A silent breath of relief flooded through her as she noticed her bird friend start flapping his wings towards her.

"Ariel!" He greeted - loudly. "Ariel, look! I finally got them. Well, it was actually a lot tougher than you can imagine. First the birds didn't want to participate and the flamingos were still holding a grudge because they said my singing was 'horrific' last night - it wasn't, was it? I thought I did pretty - anyways - I got them! And now I can stall the... Why aren't you saying anything?" He finally stopped talking and took a look at her. But this was Scuttle. He hadn't been able to place she didn't have fins anymore so he probably couldn't tell now she had them back.

"Ariel?" his voice broke through her train of thought and Ariel could only give him a face full of sadness that anyone's heart would break seeing. "Wait, you-you're-you got..." He trailed off as the princess lifted her fins out of the water and let the realization hit Scuttle. It was shown all over his face. His expression - having been so happy at first - started to slowly form into a frown and he shook his head. Then he turned to the sky, as if just realizing that it was night instead of daylight. The sun had set.

"I-I...I'm so sorry, Ariel." He spoke softly - and Ariel had to strain to hear him above all the noise.

She shook her head, sending little droplets of water that had been in her hair flying. She gave him a tiny smile and hoped she was showing gratitude on her face. The seagull had gone all that way to find creatures to help her out. How could he be sorry? In return, she saw Scuttle giving her a small - yet sad - smile back. Then he straightened up and puffed his chest out - possibly to make him look more manly. "What do you want me to do?"

Her blue eyes widened and Ariel hastely shook her head once more. She tried moving her lips, tried forming words, but nothing came out. Her fist came down on the water and sent a small splash. Scuttle only stared at her throughout this all.

_You have to get away,_ She mouthed and used her hands to show emphesis. _Go._ She mouthed, noticing the eels coming towards her again, and gently gave the bird a push.

He flapped his wings to keep himself balanced and Ariel could see the confusion in his eyes. "But Ariel..."

Her hand came up out of the water, she shook her head, and pointed at the sky. _Go!_ He left, but not before Ariel noticed him heave a sigh. She only had time to relieve her own breath before the evil minions of the sea witch approached her.

"Tsk, tsk, Princess." One of the said.

"It's rude to just swim away without letting anyone know where you're going." finished the second.

Ariel simply glared at them both.

Both laughed. "Now, now. If you keep your face like that, you'll ruin your pretty little features." one swam up close to her, right in her face. "And we wouldn't want that, would we?" He said before swimming away.

"Now. You're going to come with us..." He trailed away and his brother - was it his brother? They seemed a lot like brothers; a cousin, perhaps - looked to see what had made the sentence stop short. They both stared behind her.

Ariel couldn't help but turn around herself. She let her jaw drop open.

"Ursula, this will stop now!" proclaimed her father. Yes, her father. King Triton.

Ariel groaned silently and buried her face in her hands. If she didn't have enough on her plate trying to get Scuttle to leave, she was now. Now, she had to find Sebastian - though, he was on her father's shoulder. Then get Flounder away, and make sure her father didn't see her because she was sure if he did, the rage he would have would be as great as a hurricane.

She caught Ursula/Vanessa's glance. The fake face she had on was in a smile, a smile directed for Ariel. And it wasn't a pretty smile. It was a devious, evil, messed up smile that Ariel had to look away from. She didn't want to know what was up her sleeve, but she felt she was going to find out.

And all this was her fault.

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**A/N:** Uhm, I know this isn't the best chapter. But I actually, sort of, liked it. ; ANYWAYS, yes. Review, please? :D And, you probably noticed or not, but I changed the point of view that I was writing it in. I usually like writing in first person point of view, but I felt it was better to tell it this way - at least for me. Anyone like it? Or would you all rather I change it back to first? BUT YES, REVIEW. :DD


	3. Down We Go

**III.**  
**Down We Go**

"Why, King Triton, what a lovely surprise." Ursula crooned with her borrowed voice, focusing her attention on Triton.

The King of the Sea wore the same expression Ariel had seen before she made the mistake of swimming off with the eels. Though, there was some difference this time. Triton had always held a hint of kindness, _always_. But with Ursula... Well, it was a different story.

This look her father had, it was one she had never seen before. There was only coldness in his eyes, none of that soft tone that it always held, especially around his daughters. His face was hard, removing any evidence of the laugh lines that always managed to appear no matter what. The air around him was commanding, truly showing that he was the ruler of the entire ocean. That he could take care of anyone who stepped out of line which made Ariel wonder who she was supposed to be more afraid of at the moment?

Of the handful of humans that had stayed aboard the ship and managed to calm down, all fled now. The sight of a man with a tail for his lower body, a triton in one hand, and a crown on his head was too much for them and pretty soon, all except Ursula, Eric, and Grimsby - who was trying to drag Eric with him - remained.

Eric.

Her heart ached at the thought of him, the thought of what she had gotten him into. He was on the brink of getting killed up there without even knowing it. His face was still blank as always, his eyes still a dull, lifeless blue. This wasn't the Eric she had gotten used to. The Eric she had gotten used to always had bright blue eyes, always had life in him. The Eric she knew was sweet and caring. She may have only known him for three days, but that was all it took. It had been love at first sight and it only took those three - well, two and a half - days to prove to the princess that she had fallen in love with the right man. But this Eric...

This Eric was not the one she had fallen in love with.

With some force, she tore her eyes from the man wearing the face of her love, though he was just a stranger. She looked away, anywhere, just hoping to dull the ache that came with the thought that she had basically lost Eric forever. Then there was a flash of yellow and blue diving.

Flounder!

Ariel brought her hands up and tried to capture his attention. Fortunately, it seemed he had been looking for her because his face broke into obvious relief and he swam through the commotion towards her. She stopped him by raising her hand before he arrived all the way towards her and she made sure the eels were still watching their mistress and not her before meeting Flounder. It was close enough that she could still hear the words her father was saying - which were mostly threats and they didn't seem idle - and just out of hearing reach for the minions of Ursula to hear what Flounder had to say.

"Ariel! You're okay!" His tail behind him swished back and forth nervously. "I thought I lost you in all of this and then the sun went down and I thought something happened to you because I didn't see you and - oh, I'm just glad you're okay," He was rambling. Ariel supposed that's what he always did when he was nervous.

She reached out, taking one of his fins in her hand. She mouthed his name, silencing him.

"Oh," his face had fallen. "I was just hoping you'd somehow got your voice back." He told her when he saw the confused look upon her face.

Her own facial expression fell, bringing more sadness than she would have liked before she wiped it away, tugging at Flounder's fin gently to gain his attention. She repeated the motions she had done to Scuttle: she told him to get out of here, to leave.

Flounder shook his head, getting the point much faster than Scuttle had. "No. Ariel, you're my best friend, I'm not leaving you here with this old sea witch."

Ariel sighed, huffing at a strand of hair in her face. She pointed away once more, getting more and more aggravated by the second from the lack of vocal chords.

"Ariel, no." Flounder repeated and, by now, Ariel knew that there was no use to change his mind. Flounder may get scared sometimes and he may not usually say what's on his mind, but she knew that when it came to serious matters, her fish-friend was stubborn.

She breathed out again but, before she could push him away, a splash from behind her caught her attention. It was all a blur. She saw grey and black flash into the water before someone emerged from where the splash had caused ripples. A silent gasp escaped the princess' lips. It was Grimsby and, by the looks of it, he couldn't swim. she started to swim forward before she was stopped by one of the eels and watched as the other one did slow circles around the old man.

The tail of the eel wrapped itself around the upper part of her arm, pulling her back when she kept trying to swim forward. A scowl made its way onto her face and, had been able to talk, words that never belonged in the dainty princess would have escaped.

"This all will stop, Ursula. You will let these humans go as well as my daughter." Triton's voice resonated aloud everywhere. Ariel's focus went back to him and a small flutter of hope started in her chest even if she already knew what the response from the Sea Witch would be.

She laughed right out loud.

"My dear King. I'm afraid that's not possible. I'm having too much fun here, even trapped in this small body. And as for your daughter, well, she signed a contract," There was an evil smirk on Ursula's face as she pulled something literally out of thin air - a parchment glowing. On it, unmistakably, was Ariel's dainty signature, so exact there was no way it was a fraud. And Ariel knew it wasn't a fraud since she remembered signing it herself.

Her head shook and she looked away, ashamed she had brought all this on everyone.

She risked a look around and noted that the humans were halfway to shore by now, most having stopped to gawk at the King of the Merpeople - probably astounded by his tail. Flounder was still a few feet away from her, his focus on Triton. Scuttle, she realized, was hovering some feet away, at a close distance. He was looking at her and sent her the saddest look.

Her gaze trailed back to her father. She knew she had to get his attention, if only to let him know she was alive. For all she knew, he probably thought she was unconscious. She only had one chance at this.

She pulled on her arm, managing to slip it out of the grasp of the eel and started splashing around. She dove forward towards the man that raised her and came up when she was closer before resuming her splashing.

_See me,_ she thought. _Come on, turn around and notice me! I'm right here!_

And he did notice her.

But it was too late.

Both eels had gone after her now, each one forcefully grabbing one arm and holding a tight grip on her.

"Flotsam! Jetsam!" Ursula screeched, seeing the whole thing. "Take her back down!"

And then they dragged her underneath the dark water. The last thing she saw was her father's hand reaching for her and getting smaller and smaller the deeper she went.

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**Gosh, I am incredibly, enormously, ridiculously, never-going-to-stop-saying-how-sorry sorry I am that I didn't update sooner. I was just so busy with summer school and work and then we had to move and, God, it was a lot going on this past month. Not to mention I had a horrible case of writer's block. But hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter and I promise to have the next chapter up much sooner than this one got up.**

**Also, please review? They make me happy. :D And you get cookies.**


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